I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to tools for snap fasteners. More particularly, the present invention relates to tools for unsnapping a snap fastener from and reattaching a snap fastener to a snap fastener base.
II. Description of the Relevant Art
The conventional snap fastener includes two parts. The first part is a round snap fastener base which is fixed to a surface by means of a rivet, screw or a nut and bolt placed through a central aperture provided in the snap fastener base. The second part is the snap fastener body which is snappingly fastenable to the base and is held in place thereon by a resilient, expandable split ring provided within the snap fastener body. The body is conventionally attached to a covering material of some type. When so attached, the fastening portion is on the "inside" of the material and the snap fastener head is on the "outside" of the material.
Snap fasteners are widely used, and their use generally relates to a covering of some type. Such coverings typically include applications such as boat covers and canopies or trailer coverings or tarps. Usage for trailer coverings includes both commercial truck trailers and consumer camping trailers. Use of snap fasteners has also been employed in automobile convertible tops and tonneau covers.
While easy to construct and attach to a body, conventional snap fasteners have traditionally been susceptible to wear and tear at the fastener body. To unsnap the fastener, the individual often grabs the associated cloth or plastic material and by applying a sufficient amount of removing force, simply pulls on the material itself to unsnap the fastener.
The result of such pulling force is often torn or worn material. Once the material around the fastener body is torn or damaged, the fastener body cannot be reinforced or reattached to the material. The undesirable result of such wear is that a new cover will have to be purchased, which is usually a very costly end.
Oftentimes, if a fastener body is difficult to unsnap from its base, the remover resorts to a prying tool for unsnapping. The principal of employing a tool is sound, but the tool available--the conventional screwdriver--does more harm than good. In using a screwdriver, the user invariably damages the surface to which the fastener base is attached or tears or punctures the material to which the fastener body is attached.
While reattachment of the snap fastener body to the fastener base is conventionally accomplished by pressing the thumb upon the head of the fastener, this method is not always successful in that fastening may sometimes be frustrated by a rusty or bent fastener base or body. Unfortunately, known methods of overcoming such resistance include the undesirable choice of banging upon the head of the fastener with a tool such as a hammer. The undesirable results include a substantially flattened fastener head.
Accordingly, the prior approaches to solving the problems of unsnapping snap fastener bodies from snap fastener bases and returning them thereto have failed to eliminate the inconvenience and inefficiency of known methods.